River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-01-20
The Rock of Discourtesy.

The Rock of niscourtesy.
Home Journal: OF all social fallings
discourtesy is the most fatal and most
common. Husbands speak roughly to
their wives. and wives mag their
husbands; brothers are rude; sisters
are tyrannical. all oppose, contradict,
annoy one another. and no one thinks
it incumbent upon him or on her to keep
that check on the temper and that
paddock on the lips which would be Il
matter of obligation if "A stranger We're
present. Though there would be in
finite distress-mourning and lamenta-
ton unspeakable-shOuld one of the
cross-grained brood die, there is
general atmosphere ofstorm, threatened
or broken loose which makes living in
such home damaging to the character
and dis:ressful TO the sensibilities. Here
comes in the advantage of discipline
and the value of wise authority.
Here comes in. cOntrariwise, the evil
of this modern laxity-this abrogation
of authority-when parents have let
the reins drop from their hands, and
discipline-not tyranny, not undue
coercion, but the moral pressure which
is the result of experience and know
ledge-is as etfete rs the dodo. We
shall not be better in the next genera
ton. and we shall have to wait now
for the time when some great religious
passion or national emotion shall knit
society together again and restore the
essential spirit of discipline by the CO.
herent force OF a cauSe-an idea-a
faith. Here is where religion, when sim
cere and personally applied, is so val
liable
1t supplies the motive for self-control,
the obligation FOR that patience and
forbearance with each other which cree
ate sweetness of temper and courtesy
of manner. And here it is that irreg-
lion is so hurtful when people have not
enough moral force to supply by self
respect and consideration for others
that absolute control over their baser
nature which has been lost by abjura-
ton of authority.
Those who have taken to heart the
sweet and tender precepts of Chris
tianitv would necessarily be courteous,
gentle, of patient temper. of comply
ing ways. And if, unfortunately, a
great deal of what is called piety
exhales itself in Journalism here and
barren dOgmaS there, the residuum
turns its precepts into practice, and
that divine peace which reigns within
10. ,t-ttl.,rt aud hn
radiance of the home matches the sun
shine of the heart.
Young wives and husbands cannot
be too strongly reminded of the proba-
bic shipwreck they will make of their
happiness if they yield to that i'll
temper which expresses itself in
discourtesy, want of compliance, UNI
necessary opposition, and, above all.
that most disastrous amusement of
.'nagging," and creating a row.
Hundreds of households have gone
wrong for the mere want of checking
i'm time the habit of annoying as "A
relief to a momentary feeling of
irritation or discomfort,
The wife who gets into the way of
contradicting, of checking her hus-
band. of opposing him in small things
and standing out in large ones-the
husband, who Is sneering, contemptu-
Gus, tyrannical, fault-finding-per-
haps neither side knowing the extent
of its folly, but just giving way to it as
more easy than to fight and conquer
it-these young people are doing their
best to dig the grave of their married
peace; and some day poor, pale, faint
ing little love will fall into it stark,
and plumeless, and will never rise to
life again. In the beginning these lit
tie tiffs and discomforts are made up
with kiss from him and few tears
from her to add cement to the reconcil-
iation. BY time the tiffs are more
acrid and the reconciliation is less
warm. BY still further time this never
comes at all, and things get into that
chronic state where there is never an
open breach and never formal heal
ing, but an overwhelming rift and a
never-ending GOODNESS. Then the two
lives jar and grind like rusty hinges
locks which misfit the slots; wheels
where the axle is stiff-or anything
else which should work together in har-
mony and smoothness, but which, for
want of care to keep the adjustment
exact (perhaps for want of oil to the
ioints). creak and chafe and hang and
DO not fit. to the annoyance, and more
of all the bystanders.